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I don't necessarily need towns per say (and yeah, having to physically go into shops to buy/sell stuff is just an exercise in doorway navigation) but I do like the varied pace that towns give. Slow down and speed up the tempo of the game. Give opertunities to expand the story more. As opposed to the last game where it was rush, rush, rush down the path then all of a sudden everybody stops to talk a bit for the sake of background story, then back to rush, rush, rush.

I don't necessarily need towns per say (and yeah, having to physically go into shops to buy/sell stuff is just an exercise in doorway navigation) but I do like the varied pace that towns give. Slow down and speed up the tempo of the game. Give opertunities to expand the story more. As opposed to the last game where it was rush, rush, rush down the path then all of a sudden everybody stops to talk a bit for the sake of background story, then back to rush, rush, rush.

-Suntan

If FF towns are more like Dragon Age style where you can expand the character relationships and even battles within towns, then I all for it. Problem with FF towns is you just run or walk around trying to talk to the town people but few provide anything useful. You simply can't have a meaningful conversation to expand your relationships that effects the story like expand your romance with another character. It's very rare that battles can occur inside the town.

My favorite with Dragon Age is your companion can become so against you that he/she can either leave your party or become rival. And not each party member like each other. Part of the fun is taking the party members that hate each other on your quest. It's fun to listen to them keep arguing with each other. And it's hard to do each quest without someone in the party disagree with you. Romance multiple members in your party. And then kiss one of them in front of the other while on your quest. How about your own party member get so against what you did until he/she attacks you and ended having to kill your own party member. FF doesn't have any of them.

Hong Kong PSN Store already has one DLC for FF XIII-2. The DLC can only be accessed if you are at certain location in the game.

FF XIII-2 said to have multiple endings but some Japanese gamers already unlocked every ending and found the final ending opens to another sequel. Is this how Square uses FF XIII sequel to milk for profits since they can't seem to complete developing Vs XIII? Currently Vs XIII is hyped to be "great". But most trailers shown on Vs XIII aren't shown much actual gameplay. Who knows by the time Vs XIII comes out, it may not be what fans think.

If FF towns are more like Dragon Age style where you can expand the character relationships and even battles within towns, then I all for it. Problem with FF towns is you just run or walk around trying to talk to the town people but few provide anything useful. You simply can't have a meaningful conversation to expand your relationships that effects the story like expand your romance with another character. It's very rare that battles can occur inside the town.

My favorite with Dragon Age is your companion can become so against you that he/she can either leave your party or become rival. And not each party member like each other. Part of the fun is taking the party members that hate each other on your quest. It's fun to listen to them keep arguing with each other. And it's hard to do each quest without someone in the party disagree with you. Romance multiple members in your party. And then kiss one of them in front of the other while on your quest. How about your own party member get so against what you did until he/she attacks you and ended having to kill your own party member. FF doesn't have any of them.

Muh. I couldn't stand the incessant whining of every character in DA and how you had to endlessly pick the answer you knew they wanted to hear just to keep them working with you.

Just as I can't stand to suffer fools in real life for the sake of getting things done, I couldn't stand it in that game.

No I much prefer a tight storyline that includes a little lighthearted downtime in towns to what they did in DA.

Muh. I couldn't stand the incessant whining of every character in DA and how you had to endlessly pick the answer you knew they wanted to hear just to keep them working with you.

Just as I can't stand to suffer fools in real life for the sake of getting things done, I couldn't stand it in that game.

No I much prefer a tight storyline that includes a little lighthearted downtime in towns to what they did in DA.

-Suntan

To me, a tight storyline makes the game feel very linear for multi replay because no matter what I do, the characters can never change and nothing I can do to alter the storyline. What I mean by alter the storyline is throughout most of the game, not just different ending. I like the characters interact with "what if" I interact with them this way or ends the quest with different decision.

That's okay. Different style of RPG suits different gamers or we'll ended up with every RPG the same style.

To me, a tight storyline makes the game feel very linear for multi replay because no matter what I do, the characters can never change and nothing I can do to alter the storyline. What I mean by alter the storyline is throughout most of the game, not just different ending. I like the characters interact with "what if" I interact with them this way or ends the quest with different decision.

That's okay. Different style of RPG suits different gamers or we'll ended up with every RPG the same style.

Is anyone actually excited about this game? I bought FF 13 for the 360 a few years ago and started playing it and I never actually finished it. I didn't like the battle system for some reason and never got into the story. I really enjoyed the previous FF games, but never got into it.

I personally didn't mind the battle system (hated it at first, but grew accustomed to it later).

What I didn't care for was the whole upgrading of weapons. The idea in general was okay, but the whole having to figure out the perfect amount of sub-items you needed to upgrade was quite annoying to me.

US PSN should have it available later today. I played the X360 demo earlier today. All the cutscenes are using in-game engine. Looks similar to FF XIII.

As for the Battle system. If you played XIII, you will know what to do immediately. Tweaks that are more like "finally, I can do it". On XIII, when the battle starts, the cursor is always pointing at "Auto" battle. But on some very difficult enemies, I like to cast slow down or sleep spells which are only in the Ability. So, I have to keep pressing down arrow and several right arrow keys to do it. Now in XIII-2, I can set it to Ability by default. I can change who's the team leader in the setting. Mostly useful if you prefer to control another character while free roaming. Able to use the enemies you defeated is a welcome addition. Only one enemy ally is active per Paradigm but you have up to 3 enemy allies in different Paradigm. Also it's nice to finally able to save my own Paradigms configurations. Since you can't see the general enemies until they pop up next to you, you have a few seconds to quick attack them as pre-empty strike. No need to try sneak behind the enemies to attack first. But one thing I hate is able to swinging my weapon at the enemies because I often swing at the wrong direction. Hard to say in the demo only, but the general enemies respawn if I turned around and go back on the path that I just defeated the enemies.

The defeated enemies that become part of your team has their own power attack after charged up. That's nice.

The demo is Chapter 2. Since I can free roaming around, it gets a little confusing without referring to map where I have been. Since Chapter 2 is quite small with most a few tunnels and some open space, I don't get lost much. If you talk to random soldiers, some may give side quests to do something. The "shopping" are all done with a funkie looking lady that hangs around. I like that than having to visit several shops to buy/sell anything. Not sure if I can save at anytime because there's no save terminal cube like XIII. Pressing Start button has save but it's always greyed out in the demo.

Only decision making in Chapter 2 is when deciding how to defeat the giant boss (has been shown in demos as a giant hand. The rest of the giant boss is kind of invisible). Head on attack is more difficult or search in the tunnels for a device that slows down the giant boss. I chose this path and defeating the giant boss was easy because he doesn't attack as often and I have plenty of time to stagger the boss and he's frozen for me to freely take him down. The demo ends after the giant boss is defeated and the team got teleported to another time. A cutscene showed because the giant boss got defeated in another time, parts of the city got restored in this timeline. (Like the latest Spiderman game). Earlier in the demo, the soldiers said something about the giant boss is from another timeline.

Not sure if the full game has difficult settings. In FF XIII original edition, there was no difficulty setting. After max out everything, my team was so powerful that defeating weaker enemies were a waste of time since my team just slammed the enemies and they can't even fight back.

Since 30-45 min demo can only show so much, how freedom does that game allow revisiting timeline that you already been? In the demo, I found two side quests but only completed one. Since defeating the giant boss auto takes the team to another timeline, can I choose to return to the previous timeline on will to do the other sidequest? I saw several "time teleporters" alike in chapter 2 but can't use them to do anything.

The 1st FF XIII-2 DLC said to be only playable in specific part of the chapter. If I already gone pass the chapter, when I return to play that DLC? In FF XIII, I have to complete the story quests before the game is open to go any place in Pulse.

US PSN should have it available later today. I played the X360 demo earlier today. All the cutscenes are using in-game engine. Looks similar to FF XIII.

As for the Battle system. If you played XIII, you will know what to do immediately. Tweaks that are more like "finally, I can do it". On XIII, when the battle starts, the cursor is always pointing at "Auto" battle. But on some very difficult enemies, I like to cast slow down or sleep spells which are only in the Ability. So, I have to keep pressing down arrow to do it. Now in XIII-2, I can set it to Ability by default. I can change who's the team leader in the setting. Mostly useful if you prefer to control another character while free roaming. Able to use the enemies you defeated is a welcome addition. Only one enemies is active per Paradigm but you have up to 3 enemies in different Paradigm. Since you can't see the general enemies until they pop up next to you, you have a few seconds to quick attack them as pre-empty strike. But one thing hate is able to switch my weapon at the enemies because I often swing at the wrong direction. Hard to say in the demo only, but the general enemies respawn if I turned around and go back on the path that I just defeated the enemies.

The defeated enemies that become part of your team has their own power attack after charged up. That's nice.

The demo is Chapter 2. Since I can free roaming around, it gets a little confusing without referring to map where I have been. Since Chapter 2 is quite small with most a few tunnels and some open space, I don't get lost much. If you talk to random soldiers, some may give side quests to do something. The "shopping" are all done with a funkie looking lady. I like that than having to visit several shops to buy/sell anything. Not sure if I can save at anytime because there's no save terminal cube like XIII. Pressing Start button has save but it's always greyed out for the demo.

Only decision making in Chapter 2 is when decising how to defeat the giant boss (has been shown in demos as a giant hand. The rest of the giant boss is kind of invisible). Head on attack is more difficult or search in the tunnels for a device that slows down the giant boss. I chose this path and defeating the giant boss was easy because he doesn't attack as often and I have plenty of time to stagger the boss and he's frozen for me to freely take him down.

Awesome news. Thanks,

"Damn, you can't get black levels like that on your projector!"- My brother, just before he realized his LED display had died.

I also tried the demo tonight. After 40 minutes got to the big giant, he owned me 2 times and didn't feel like continuing, was tired. Will do it during the week.

Another things Vortex didn't mention is that you can now change your leader during the battle. You can now ''control'' every battle member by switching between who the leader is. It worked well with only 2 to managed, don't know how it will work with 3.

I also tried the demo tonight. After 40 minutes got to the big giant, he owned me 2 times and didn't feel like continuing, was tired. Will do it during the week.

Another things Vortex didn't mention is that you can now change your leader during the battle. You can now ''control'' every battle member by switching between who the leader is. It worked well with only 2 to managed, don't know how it will work with 3.

I'm glad for the town,shops,interaction

Able to switch team leader is useful if your leader is ready to be knocked out to another more healthy leader. Since the battle system in XIII-2 is still based on XIII, if the battle is taking too long to win and you aren't getting 5 stars, you are doing something wrong. So, if your default leader keeps getting knocked out, you should rethink your attack strategy because in XIII, even the toughest enemies can be taken out quite fast. After played XIII-2 demo, XIII attack strategies still work with XIII-2. Also, you should not leave one member as a medic all the time. Most enemies can be defeated by switching to one medic every so often. The only time more one member in medic mode is after a very strong hit like taking out 90% of your party healths. You quickly heal everyone by having several or all being medic and immediately switch your Paradigm back to one Com, Rev, Rev (most useful) to quickly stagger the enemy. I assume XIII-2 Chapter 2 is the first time you meet a stronger boss and it's very forgiving to defeat it without a lot of proper strategy. I also tried to fight the giant hand boss by skipping the machine that slows it down. The boss starts off with very heavy attack. Without everyone in Sen, it's one hit kill. With everyone in Sen, only one barely stays alive. I didn't proceed this harder method but in theory, it might be possible by bringing everyone back up, everyone quickly heal, (not sure if it's possible this early, hast everyone, curse boss with slow down and other weakering spells) and quick attack to eventually stagger the boss. Maybe I'll try that later because the demo wouldn't let me save at that point to continue later.

I miss Fang from XIII. I almost have her active in the party all the time. After upgraded her weapon to max, she's like unstoppable as Commando. With her, the team can stagger the largest enemies in seconds.

Based on XIII-2 Chapter 2, Serah and co seemed to have gone back quite a bit in time before Cocoon crashed into Pulse. So, they could meet the rest of XIII team in theory. But I don't think Square is going to do it because that would bring XIII specific characters back.

I read Game Informer said XIII-2 story makes no sense and keep using time paradox as why things happen weirdly. I know a Japanese gamer on PSN and he Platinum XIII-2 a lot quicker than XIII.

Not sure how far the player got into the game but it's always 3 active member party, ie. 3rd member is the recruited enemy. Also, not sure how many recycled XIII enemies. Even playing the demo, it feels deja vu fighting most of the same enemies from XIII.

Able to switch team leader is useful if your leader is ready to be knocked out to another more healthy leader. Since the battle system in XIII-2 is still based on XIII, if the battle is taking too long to win and you aren't getting 5 stars, you are doing something wrong. So, if your default leader keeps getting knocked out, you should rethink your attack strategy because in XIII, even the toughest enemies can be taken out quite fast. After played XIII-2 demo, XIII attack strategies still work with XIII-2. Also, you should not leave one member as a medic all the time. Most enemies can be defeated by switching to one medic every so often. The only time more one member in medic mode is after a very strong hit like taking out 90% of your party healths. You quickly heal everyone by having several or all being medic and immediately switch your Paradigm back to one Com, Rev, Rev (most useful) to quickly stagger the enemy. I assume XIII-2 Chapter 2 is the first time you meet a stronger boss and it's very forgiving to defeat it without a lot of proper strategy. I also tried to fight the giant hand boss by skipping the machine that slows it down. The boss starts off with very heavy attack. Without everyone in Sen, it's one hit kill. With everyone in Sen, only one barely stays alive. I didn't proceed this harder method but in theory, it might be possible by bringing everyone back up, everyone quickly heal, (not sure if it's possible this early, hast everyone, curse boss with slow down and other weakering spells) and quick attack to eventually stagger the boss. Maybe I'll try that later because the demo wouldn't let me save at that point to continue later.

I miss Fang from XIII. I almost have her active in the party all the time. After upgraded her weapon to max, she's like unstoppable as Commando. With her, the team can stagger the largest enemies in seconds.

Based on XIII-2 Chapter 2, Serah and co seemed to have gone back quite a bit in time before Cocoon crashed into Pulse. So, they could meet the rest of XIII team in theory. But I don't think Square is going to do it because that would bring XIII specific characters back.

I read Game Informer said XIII-2 story makes no sense and keep using time paradox as why things happen weirdly. I know a Japanese gamer on PSN and he Platinum XIII-2 a lot quicker than XIII.

Not sure how far the player got into the game but it's always 3 active member party, ie. 3rd member is the recruited enemy. Also, not sure how many recycled XIII enemies. Even playing the demo, it feels deja vu fighting most of the same enemies from XIII.

Even in quick fights, I still got only 3 stars average (couple of 5 stars but mostly 3). Wihtout pre-emptive strikes, it's nearly impossible to have 5 stars (I understood later that when the ennemies appear you have to hit them to have the pre-emptive strike ). The compass thing is only to indicate where the ennemy is?

I won't buy this day 1. I'm a big FF fan, but FFXIII was ok, nothing struck me really. I'll pick this one up at discount when I'll have nothing to play...

Being a big fan of XIII from the rest of the Final Fantasy, I'm also unsure about XIII-2. After played the demo, sure the tweaks making the battle system easier to manage, but without a good story to be a sequel, is there any point to playing XIII-2?

I was happy with XIII ending. Does XIII-2 add anything to extend the story or just an excuse for fans to waste another 50+ hours or letting Square to milk more money out of me?

Just a side note. Every time I see Lightning new armor costume in the trailers, it seems to loose feathers everything she does something. With the rate of loosing feather, her "behind" will be bold by the end of XIII-2.

CES rerun on TV last night had FF XIII-2 ad showing on every com break. At least the game is heavily advertised.

This is question I have on the retail FF XIII-2. I'm completely stuck now after 11+ hours into it. Reminds me why I never completed any Final Fantasy except XIII because being non-linear, I always get lost after a while. I have been searching for walkthrough but can't find any. Video walkthroughs are useless since the player who played it doesn't go in the same order as I and if he found something that I need, I'll have no idea where in the video he did it unless I watch about 10 hours worth of video walkthrough.

From Gate Matrix layout:
I have completed 300 AF, the time segment below it Archylte Steppe Year unknown, and time segment above 300 AF is the Casino I think. I defeated the required bosses part of the main quest in 300 AF and Archylte Steepe which is hot weather dragon looking boss. Snow in 300 AF has disappeared after defeated the green boss. From 300 AF, it has branched to the Coliseum time segment on the right. I already got 3A and 3B trophies if that indicate where I am in the game.

Problem is Casino door is still locked when I arrive there. Weird is after completed 300 AF, it let me go to Void Beyond way at the end but I can't go anywhere there.

Forgot to say, I already have the Casino Ticket which you would think will unlock the Casino time segment but it does not.

What I hate about XIII-2 is there is no clue on what time portal key I need to progress. I have been back and forth to time segments that I already visited but have no clue what to look or do.

So far, I have to say XIII-2 story makes very little sense because most time segments story aren't connected. It's like jumping around in the story and play a segment each time. The locations are heavily recycled from XIII with modifications. Enemies are also recycled with a few new ones. Music are often recycled but remixed. I already "solve" Snow's time segment but after I was done, it got more confusing which timeline he came from.

I read some reviews that XIII story was a mess, but I have to say XIII-2 story is a complete mess so far.

I picked up my copy of the Collector's Edition last night and played it for a bit. It definitely doesn't disappoint so far in terms of graphics. I haven't really "played" any of it yet since the first part is setting up the story and tutorial type stuff. I will be putting much more significant time in tonight after the kids and wife go to bed

If you anyone has played for 11+ hours and able to unlock the casino time segment, please let me know how you do it. My FF XIII-2 is on rental time and would like to figure out to continue. All I can do is keep wondering in other time segments getting no where.

Update:
Never mind. Gamespot walkthrough author wrote to the point where I got stuck. I was at the location several times but didn't stand at the required spot long enough to know I have to do something to unlock more of the map.

Without giving much spoiler, the game finally got interesting and gone pass recycled locations from FF XIII in Chapter 4 which was 15:30 hrs of gameplay for me. Story wise is clearer at this point but if you think too hard about time paradox, still doesn't make much sense. I think the 1st ending could be reached in about 20 hours of gameplay according to a walkthrough but I had to return the rental right before I finished defeating the final boss to see the 1st ending.

A hint if you got tired to having to defeat a group of tough enemies on the way up the tall tower. I'm not kidding when I say you get attacked every few steps. You can't even get away from the enemies even you restart the battle since they will attack you in half a second after the game restarts. Just let the enemies kill your team. After that the game gives you slightly more time to move around before the enemies will attack again.

Minimal spoiler:
Several readers asked about if plable party members are always the same. Based 20 hours of gameplay, you can only control Saren, Noel and one of the monster. Each monster can only be one role, ie. Commando, Ravenger, etc.

If another character temporary joins the team, ie. in one of the time segment, Snow was hanging around and during battles, he will fight with Sareh, Noel and monster but you have no control over him. At the first 20 minutes in the game opening, you control Lightning and then Noel briefly.

As for towns, each time segment you visit either has small town that you can run through in a few seconds or big city that puts you in a linear path like XIII. There is no shop to do shipping. You find a girl dressed like a bird standing around at different parts of the map. I wish they use XIII shopping cube because the she has horrible voice actor and say strangest things.

As for not failing the battle when the leader knocked out, both Sareh and Noel cannot be knocked out with the monster only alive in the battle.

As for upgrading the characters roles, I don't like not able to move the tree and see how many steps it takes to reach new abilities down the tree. It tells you what next level to unlock the next ability. In XIII, I plan way in advance what abilities I plan to unlock as each character gains more CP. XIII-2 is most upgrading blindly and only know the next ability. The monster abilities can only be upgraded by feeding them items you found after defeating enemies. That's good because I have use of them than just collecting them to sell. But the monsters don't have as many abilities like the humans. This makes harder to have two synegists enhancing your team quicker or two saboteurs weaking the enemies faster since the monster in your party only have a few skills.

Between Chapter 1 to 3b, you travel to places in XIII in the 1st 16 hours. They are kind of boring since you just battle random enemies and find the key to unlock other time portals. Once time segment for Chapter 4 is unlocked, you can also visit the Casino before proceeding. Sareh and Noel even said they are taking a break in the Casino. I didn't have time to play the games there. Once you get to Chapter 4, that's when you are in the new places and it plays very linear going in one path like XIII. You have to turn cube directions to open up paths to proceed up the elevators going up the tower. And tons of tougher enemies that will keep attacking after you make a few steps as you get close to the top of the tower at 20 hours into the game. I only have time to reach the top of the tower before having to return my rental. I think after the top tower, they finally get to meet Lightning.

Hopefully this partial game walkthrough with minimal spoiler gives you some idea how the game plays.

Started playing last night. As expected, it looks beautiful. Plays very similarly to the first one. They've added a few elements...but not sure they add much to the game- Cinematic Action (i.e., QTEs during stunning cutscenes), Live Action (i.e., dialogue tree during NPC encounters....not sure if your choices affect the story), and enemy spawn triggers...not sure what they're called. You have a timer when an enemy spawns. If you attack the enemy while the timer is green- preemptive strike. You can also flee the enemies if you get outside of their bubble before the timer goes red.

It's more of the same, with a bit of an open world feel...but not very open. I've only played about 3 hours...but I liked the first one and like this so far also. It's a crazy whacked out story with fanciful creatures and a watery storyline that remains intriguing nonetheless.